MINNEAPOLIS — It could have been blamed on the double-digit wind chill outside the toasty Target Center, or the winter’s first snowfall in this arctic location.

It seemed for a while as though the New Orleans Hornets were frozen stiff.

The Associated PressNew Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul hit the game-winning shot in Minnesota on Wednesday.But the Hornets, especially their defense, thawed in the second half despite the icy conditions outside the Target Center, rallying for a thrilling 97-96 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves — thanks to Chris Paul’s driving layup with 1.4 seconds remaining — in snapping a six-game road losing streak that has stretched for a month.

New Orleans’ only other road win was Nov. 9 when the Hornets beat the Clippers at the Staples Center.

The Hornets executed one of the simplest plays in basketball — a backdoor cut off a screen after an inbounds pass. David West provided the screen and assist off Paul’s inbounds pass as Paul streaked to the basket uncontested and trailed by Minnesota rookie Jonny Flynn.

“Coach (Jeff Bower with the aid of lead assistant Tim Floyd) drew the play up during the timeout, and I think our team showed great poise in going out and executing it to perfection,” said Paul, who finished with 15 points and 14 assists. “It was just a handoff with me and D-West. I just read it. If he (Flynn) would have backed up, I probably would have come over the top, take high and go low.”

The Hornets were coming off an energy-sapping, hard-fought victory on Tuesday night at home, where they’ve won six in a row and eight of 10 this season.

But there was no excuse for Wednesday night’s uninspired first-half performance against a team New Orleans had beaten at home 98-89 on Friday night.

Minnesota led by as many as 16 points in the second half, but the Hornets’ defense suddenly awoke — or thawed out — and came to life.

The fourth-quarter turnaround, in which the Hornets rallied from a seven-point deficit, was sparked by the defense of forward James Posey, who drew three charges in a two-minute span. It then was punctuated by a Posey 3-pointer that gave the Hornets an 88-87 lead with eight minutes to go, their first since the opening minute of the second quarter.

“Big, huge, huge; it turned the whole game around for us,” Paul said of Posey’s defensive effort. “That’s Pose for you. It’s something that won’t show up on the stat sheet. Even though I scored the winning basket, James Posey was the leader for this game.”

Peja Stojakovic led the Hornets with 21 points, and rookie Marcus Thornton had 20.

Ryan Gomes led Minnesota with 21, as six Timberwolves scored in double figures.

Early on, it seemed that New Orleans left its interior defense back home. The Timberwolves pounded the Hornets inside, getting 36 points in the lane in the first half and shooting 64.4 percent. That number was inflated because Minnesota was having no difficulty getting the ball inside to Al Jefferson and Ryan Hollins, who were almost toying with the Hornets’ front line.

“We’re not happy at all with the execution of our defensive plan tonight,” Bower said. “We weren’t effective with it. We had numerous coverages that weren’t what we wanted as far as the defensive execution. We did address that at halftime, and several times throughout the game. But when you’re in the middle of the battle, all things considered, you just try to keep fighting until you start to get that surge. And we were able to do that.”

Flynn was also penetrating rather easily, and that opened it up for Flynn to dish off to open teammates inside, as his nine assists attested.

The youthful Timberwolves had obviously learned from last Friday’s defeat at the New Orleans Arena and came out in a rather quiet home building not at all intimated by what had transpired six days earlier.

“This has happened to us already this year, with Portland and some other teams,” Minnesota Coach Kurt Rambis said of the two meetings in six days against the Hornets. “So in some respects, it’s an advantage. You get to see them close, you get to work on things that didn’t work well for you, and reaffirm things that did work well.

“This is such a young team and inexperienced team. They’re trying to get as much experience as possible. So for them to see a team in close proximity like this, I think helps them out. They get a feel for it. The first time around we played the Hornets, for a lot of our guys it’s the first time they’ve ever played against the Hornets, the first time they’ve ever played against those individuals. It gives them another opportunity to get some more experience against very talented players.”

HORNETS VALUE: Forbes Magazine on Wednesday published a list of evaluations of the 30 NBA teams and ranked the Hornets 28th in total value, just ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies and Milwaukee Bucks.

The magazine valued the franchise’s worth at $267 million, just $1 million less than Wednesday night’s opponent, the Timberwolves and $2 million less than the New Jersey Nets, who ranked 26th at $269 million.

Forbes estimated a 6 percent decrease in the Hornets’ total value from a year ago, with a net revenue loss of about minus 0.1 percent over last season, the smallest decrease of any franchise the magazine estimated had a revenue loss.

The top five valued franchises and their estimated worths, according to Forbes are the Los Angeles Lakers ($607 million), New York Knicks ($585 million), Chicago Bulls ($511 million), Detroit Pistons ($479 million) and Cleveland Cavaliers ($476 million).

Jimmy Smith can be reached at jsmith@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3814.